?Thud! Arad walked out of the hell’s gate naked and engulfed in flames. He took a deep breath, and the flames faded, immediately covering himself up with the clothes he wore before and stored in his stomach. Going to hell with unenchanted clothes is only asking for them to get burned, so he had opted to take them off before walking.

“To think you don’t need protection against hell,” Merlin stared at him with a smirk, “My scales are better suited to resist hell. I can also protect myself with barrier magic and the void,” He looked at her, “But, it’s quite annoying,”

“Finding hell annoying at worst is not something I thought I’d hear someone say in my life,” Merlin sighed, approaching Arad and staring at him, her eyes glowing blue. “Good, no lingering curses. You’re good,” She tapped his shoulder.

“I told you,” Arad smiled, “Doma would clear anything out,”

“Better be careful,” She turned, “You can go check on the girls, they are waiting,”

ZON! Arad teleported straight to Roberta’s shop to see if Alony had released the girl from her binding. “Roberta, is she fine?” He asked.

“I told you! That devil is dangerous. Why did you send him? He’ll die!” He could hear the girl shouting.

“I’m telling you, Arad would win. You woke up, all right? That means he won,” Roberta shouted back at her.

“What’s going on?” Arad walked into the back room, bending to fit into the door. He looked inside, seeing Roberta and the girl arguing with Geralt, holding his aching head at the back.

“Can you two calm down a bit?” He stepped inside.

“Who?” The girl turned, seeing Arad staring at her. She took a step back, “What do you want?”

“You look fine,” He smiled.

The girl misunderstood his words and jumped back, terrified.

“Arad, so the devil is?” Roberta sighed in relief.

“He was up and ready for a second match, but I still beat him until he released her,” Arad replied. Finding a chair to sit on, and looked toward Geralt, “Did you get a healer to look at you?”

“Yeah, it’s just a cold,” Geralt replied, “I’m old. Getting sick is inevitable,”

“Wait? Arad? He beat the devil?” The girl gasped.

“He’s Arad Orion. You must’ve heard of him.” Roberta stared at the girl with a grin.

“Arad Orion? That man who browless with werewolves, punches vampires, dragged a dragon to the front gate, and sold it?” She stared at him for a second, suspicious, but one stared at his arms being thicker than her torso made her quickly change her mind. It was him.

“That would be me,” Arad looked at her.

The girl looked at Roberta and Gerald, “So now he adds beating a devil to the list. The adventurers aren’t going to believe this,”

“To be honest,” Geralt sighed, “Beating a devil isn’t something I expect even from an s-rank,” He stared at Arad, “You’ve grown strong, young blood,”

“Won’t say strong,” Arad smiled, “Competent enough to survive.”

“You say that,” Geralt grabbed his cane and smacked Arad’s arm, making a sound akin to hitting a tree. “This isn’t how muscles are supposed to sound like. They’re as hard as stones,”

“That devil could still cut me easily with his sword,” Arad replied, “It might look strong, but I still have to work on it,” He held his arm.

Roberta and the girl stared at him. ^But it took a devil to cut you…^

Knock! Knock! As they sat, they could hear a knock on the door. Geralt looked at Roberta, “Check who is it,”

“It’s Sena,” Arad replied, “I can smell her from here,” He stood and walked to open the door instead of Roberta.

Opening the door, Sena rushed in and closed the door behind her to not let the winter’s cold in. She looked toward Arad, “Good morning,”

He blinked, thinking for a moment, “Yeah, I was asleep until recently,” He smiled, “Good morning,”

“You beat the devil of control, the devil lord of the second layer of hell,” She smiled, “You’re getting stronger, aren’t you?”

“You could’ve beaten that devil on your own. I can tell looking at you now,” Arad stared at her, “Why didn’t you take care of him?”

“I can’t just mess with contracts, and I’m legally bound to not interfere with the devil lords of hell without them making a direct move against me first,” She replied.

“What law holds you down?”

“Cosmic laws, on my mother’s side,” She added, looking past him to see Roberta and the girl, “You two are all right?”

“Yeah,” Roberta replied.

Arad looked at Roberta, closing his eyes and looking deep into his soul. Right at the center, he had two souls lying asleep, waiting for something to wake them up. Shi’s soul, the half-tarrasque he beaten, and Roberta’s mother’s soul that he stole from hell.

“Roberta,” Arad looked at them, “Your mother’s soul, I have it,” He said.

“What?” Geralt gasped.

“I know,” Roberta sighed, “I saw her while I was inside your storage magic. She was unconscious at that time,” She looked toward her father.

“I don’t care at this point,” Geralt sighed, “Do what you wish,”

Roberta stared at Arad.

“I’ll keep her until you make a decision,” He shook his head, “And I don’t know how to wake them on my own, so that has to be a whole mission on its own,”

“Thank you…” She looked at him with a smile.

****

“Our lord!” A man said, bowing down. “Our armies are ready, with one word, all shall move,”

Vlad stood, a smile on his face, “All forces would attack the base of Uranus. Leave the dragon himself to me.” He lifted his hand, “Each general has his own target, so don’t play around and kill as fast as you can,”

“As you order,” The army of vampires disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving the place reeking with blood.

Vlad stood, looking at the side to the man standing there, “Zia, do you know where that girl Eris is?” Vlad giggled, “I can’t wait to get her here,”

Zia sighed, “You’ve only been babbling about her. You had a wife, and a daughter called Scarlet,”

“They’ve already grown and left the nest. It’s time for me to make new ones.” He giggled, “Do you think she’ll like red apples like Gehena did? Could she be fond of virgin blood or the taste of leprecon’s blood siphoned at the moonlight?”

“For the sixty-eight time, I don’t know. She could ** gold for all I care,” Zia approached him with a deep sigh, “Can you focus. For one time?”

“I’m focusing on her,” Vlad smiled, “She won’t get that far from my hands or hips,”

“That’s what you said about your previous wife,” Zia clenched a fist, wanting to smack him in the face. “And she ran away. With your bloodstone goblet,”

“That she did,” He looked at Zia.

“You know she slept with Alcott before running to the abyssal arctic of the north? You know she and that man did it on purpose, don’t you?” She growled.

“We can’t be sure of that,”

“He literally **ed your wife and daughter, get a grip and be serious for once. He was but a human!” Zia swung at Vlad’s head, but he dodged by simply waving his head to the side.

“That’s why I’m looking to make a new family, with my new love Eris. Hopefully, we could make a perfect vampire child. What should we name him?” He looked at Zia, “Any ideas?”

“Not my **ing problem,” She growled.

“Well, we can name him that, but I’m sure the poor child would hate me.” Vlad looked at the ceiling, seeing his golden chandelier wiggling from left to right, the flame of the candles on it dancing with the wind as he could hear seagulls squeal outside.

“That dragon brat Arad,” Vlad smiled, “He blew my kingdom. I was so pissed at the time,”

“As you should, he blew a thousand-year-old kingdom,” Zia held her face, not knowing what to think of Vlad. She’s been serving as his maid for decades, but till now she can’t understand how his mind works.

“I mean. It took a lot of work to build that base. It was a shame to see it blasted,” Vlad looked at her, “But what can I say? Well played on his part. Using a goddess’s divine punishment to blast me was a smart strategy,” He giggled.

“You’re insane,” Zia growled.

“I’ve been alive for thousands of years, long before the war of gods,” He closed his eyes, remembering the days of the old war, him hiding beneath the ground, starving for decades as the gods fought the abomination in what seemed like an endless war.

“Compared to that, the current world’s problems look like spices on food,” He waved his hands, “Once I take a spit, I cough and spit it out. It’s too spicy, too hot…” He looked at Zia, “You see red, sweating and angry, but then I smile, damn, but it tastes good,”

“That’s it, you’re insane,”

“Immortality is a curse, not a blessing,” Vlad extended his palm forward, “I’ve seen so many days, so many lies, so many lives that I’m getting bored, too exhusted, and I can’t stand the world the way is it,” He stood, opening his arms, “Either the world better change to be fun for, or I don’t need it,”

“The world doesn’t revolve around you,” Zia looked at him, “I know you’re the oldest and strongest vampire, but please be logical, for once,”

“My sweet, I’m not saying the world should revolve around me. It shouldn’t, because it’ll be boring if that was the case,” He waved his hands in the air.

“How many times did I tell you’re insane? Sit, and let’s direct the arms as we planned. Don’t mess things up. You’re the one who planned them in the first place.” She growled, “Your previous head maid died because of that,”

“She’s alive. It’ll only take her some time to regenerate,” Vlad sat again with a bored face, “When will I get my hands on you, my little Eris,” 𝑖𝘳𝑎.𝒸ℴ𝘮

He looked to the side, seeing Zia glaring at him with a disgusted glare.

“Come on,” Vlad sighed, “If a vampire is going to kill and take my place, it’ll be my child, the strongest vampire and hers, the holy vampire,”

“You want to die?”

“I want to have fun, and life isn’t fun anymore,”

“Then just drop dead! Save us the hassle. We vampires also want to live a quiet life,”

“Me dying like that is no fun,” He smiled, “I once thought. When I was a human.” He lifted his hand, pointing a finger at the wall. “If I wanted to die, I won’t throw myself out of a building, or burn myself. I’ll pick a weapon, and do whatever I like until the world stops me.”

He closed his eyes, remembering the old days, “They even forgot about me in my cell, and I spent years licking my own blood from my rusty shackles to survive until I became a vampire.”

“That isn’t how vampires are born,”

“I was because I’m special,” He stood, “But, don’t fail the Zephyr plan. The fight will be no fun with her around,” He pulled two swords, shapeshifting into a swarm of bats and flying out of the window, standing alone on top of the stem of the bowsprit as the ship sailed toward the shores.

He took a deep breath, spikes of blood emerging behind him.

“Men, women, and everyone, what a nice smell.” He clanged his blades, “Time to impale you, so prepare your booties.” He smiled, clanging the swords once more, “Eris, prepare your booty, and Arad, Alcott, I dare you to try and **ing stop me!” He laughed as the vampires charged at the human capital from the seat right after dusk.

This content is taken from 𝘪𝘦.𝘤𝑜